"The Moderate Constituencies
and Demands of Progressivism"
Introduction
Almost immediately after the political
realignment of the latter 1890s and the demise of the Populist party, new
groups of American citizens recognized the need for reform. Far from dying
off with the Populist party, the demand for an adjustment to the realities
of a complex, modern America spread across the United States. The new reformers,
known as Progressives, were primarily city dwellers and quite different
from the farmers of the nation demographically, occupationally, socially,
etc. However, they shared a belief with their Populist predecessors that
the laissez faire government policy that dominated Americaís first century
was obsolete and incapable of solving the problems of an urban and industrial
America. From 1900 to 1920 the Progressives succeeded in enacting their
demands and adjusting American government at all levels.
Population and Demographic Trends
Encourage Progressive Reform
Progressivism was primarily an urban-based
reform movement. It sought to adjust the government to a rapidly-changing
America - an America increasing in population, urbanizing rapidly, and
becoming more ethnically and culturally diverse. The scope and rapidity
of these changes was phenomenal. Between 1880 and 1910, the population
of the country increased by some 67 percent. One reason for such growth
was an unprecedentedly heavy wave of immigration, primarily from eastern
and southern Europe. Between 1881 and 1910, 17.6 million people immigrated
to the United States. And Americans were moving to the city in record numbers.
Nearly three-quarters of the population lived in rural areas in 1880. The
1920 federal census revealed that fifty-one percent - now the majority
- lived in urban locales. Such change within one generation created an
environment supportive of change.
As the United States grew, moved
to the city, and became more ethnically and culturally diverse, it witnessed
new and vexing problems. The increased population put a greater demand
on the resources of the country. New living abodes and jobs were necessary.
The unprecedented immigration to the United States from Eastern and Southern
Europe placed new strains on the social fabric of the country. The new
immigrants were predominantly poor and lower-class by American standards
of that era. Because of their plight in this strange new land, they were
manipulated by the city bosses and political machines. Many Americans feared
the country was slipping away from them to hordes of "foreigners." The
incredibly swift growth of the American cities was accompanied as well
by a plethora of new problems - corrupt political machines, monopolistic
municipal services, lack of organization and planning, health, sanitation,
slums, etc. The need to deal with all of these problems and changes helped
bring on the Progressive reform movement.
The Moderate Constituencies of
Progressivism
The Progressive movement was a shifting
coalition of extremely diverse groups, each with its own motivation and
idea of what "progressive reform" meant. Rather than a homogeneous, cohesive
movement, the Progressives were a confluence of very different reform sentiments.
As your textbook states: "Disparate groups united in an effort to improve
the well-being of many groups in society."
As a result of industrialization, the
concentration of the business sector, and the influx of millions of new
immigrants, the middle-class American felt his position in American society
threatened. The United States had always been dominated by its large middle-class
but now that middle-class felt the country slipping away to the super-rich
produced by the Industrial Revolution and the rise of big business. They
witnessed the ostentatious lifestyles practiced by this wealthy elite and
recoiled in disgust. At the same time, they recoiled in horror at the lifestyles
and squalid conditions of the new immigrants living in the slums of the
Northeast. They saw the tremendous political influence wielded by both
the robber barons because of their money and the city bosses because of
the large blocs of immigrant votes that they controlled.
They were concerned that the fabric
of American society was being stretched to its breaking point. They feared
that if nothing were done to ease this mounting tension a violent confrontation
would ensue between the very rich and the very poor with the middle-class
caught between the two extremes. A government of the very rich or one dominated
by the very poor would ignore the needs and values of the middle-class.
Therefore, the middle of American society saw Progressivism as a way of
easing tension on the social fabric of the country and reasserting middle-class
values and control. Progressive income taxation could be used to pull the
very wealthy back towards the middle while at the same time generating
the revenue required to fund services and programs for the very poor and
the immigrants to pull them up toward the middle.
Various occupations wishing to upgrade
themselves into "professions" were important supporters of Progressive
reform. Prior to the turn of the century, the fields of medicine, law,
architecture, engineering, nursing, etc. were quite different from what
they are today. Prior to the Progressive Era, these were open occupational
fields in many areas of the country - there were no requirements for college
or post-graduate training, there were no requirements that one must pass
certain qualifying examinations before practicing the trade, there were
no requirements that one must be licensed before practicing the trade,
etc. These occupational groups wished to institute such requirements to
upgrade the quality of the people in their fields and to limit entry into
their occupations in order to drive up both status and income. These groups
realized that they could not institute these requirements themselves; these
changes could only be instituted effectively by a more active government
that had the force of law behind it. These groups formed their professional
organizations during the Progressive Era and suppored government legislation
to force minimum requirements and licensing programs.
Small businessmen at the turn of the
century felt incapable of competing successfully with the giant industrial
corporations that arose during the Gilded Age. These small business operators
felt government had fallen under the domination of the industrial magnates
who were preying upon the small business owners - driving them into bankruptcy
and buying them out at pennies on the dollar. They supported a more active
governmental regulatory effort with an antitrust thrust. Only through such
a change in government policy could small businesses survive and compete
successfully. They wished to see a return to an earlier American business
system - one in which competition between numerous business entities in
an open marketplace determined price.
The Progressive movement was also supported
to a degree by some big business interests. Big businessmen realized that
the demand for governmental regulation of the business sector had not been
satisfied by passage of the Interstate Commerce Act and the Sherman Antitrust
Act. Rather, the demand for stronger regulation kept building. Some large
business owners therefore sought to coopt or moderate these demands by
supporting milder governmental regulatory measures. If big business could
moderate demands for stronger consumer-oriented regulatory efforts, it
would avert disaster and, at the same time, perhaps bring about regulation
that would also serve the needs of business. The "right" kind of governmental
regulation, with the force of law behind it, could achieve goals that businessmen
had been unable to achieve for themselves - limiting entry into the market,
establishing "rationalized" competition, imposing standardization, etc.
Some of the poor living in the slums
of Northeastern cities supported Progressivism because they desired a more
active government which supplied social welfare type services and dealt
with the problems of the cities.
Some of the old aristocratic families
of the country resented the extraordinary riches accruing to a totally
new group of individuals as a result of industrialization and the rise
of big business. They felt threatened by the new rich and supported progressive
taxation measures and stronger governmental regulation of business to limit
the wealth and power of the "neauvo riche". The old aristocratic families
reasoned that while progressive taxation would limit their wealth, they
would have their social status left while the new rich without their money
would be nothing.
Feminists were among the strongest
supporters of many of the various reform movements at the turn of the century.
They, however, had their own particular demands - equal pay for equal work,
more equitable divorce and property settlement laws, greater educational
opportunities, birth control, etc. However, the feminist movement prized
above all else the right to vote. They felt that female suffrage was the
key to gaining all of their other objectives. If only they could gain suffrage,
politicians would quickly accede to their other demands in order to court
their votes at election time.
The drive by many Americans to ban
the production, sale, and consumption of alcoholic beverages played an
important role in the Progressive movement. Prohibitionists reasoned that
a ban on alcohol would not only produce a sober more moral country but
would solve or at least address numerous other problems in this modern
American society. Drunkenness would decline but so too would poverty, family
violence, slum living conditions, worker absenteeism, etc.
These were only some of the most
important constituencies of Progressivism but it should be apparent from
this discussion that Progressivism was a diverse and widespread movement.
Further, the constituencies of reform, unlike their predecessors the Populists,
were seen as mainstream and non-threatening. This made their concerns and
proposals more acceptable.
The Moderate Demands of Progressivism
If the constituencies of progressive
reform were extremely diverse and viewed as moderate by the American people,
the same can be said for the specific governmental adjustments they demanded
to solve the problems of an urban, industrial, and culturally-diverse America.
The Progressives demanded significant
change in the field of taxation. They agreed with their Populist predecessors
on the need for tax measures that would shift the tax burden from the lower
income groups to the wealthy who were better able to shoulder the burden.
A progressive federal income tax theoretically would do just that. Congress
proposed a constitutional amendment to institute such a tax in 1909 and
it was ratified and put into operation in 1913. Progressive inheritance
taxes were also proposed to tax the immense fortunes beginning to pass
from the industrial magnates to their children. As Progressives gained
control of state governments in various sections of the country such as
Wisconsin under Governor Robert LaFollete, they began to institute progressive
taxation at the state level as well.
One of the most important areas of
Progressive reform was local government. Progressives felt that as the
United States underwent urbanization, local government had to be strengthened,
rendered more efficient, and made less corrupt if it were to deal with
the vexing problems plaguing the new American cities. They were determined
to take local government away from the bosses and political machines and
operate them on a business-like basis. The following were some of the more
important changes the Progressives initiated in this field.
-
The granting of "home rule" status
to cities under model city charters. Creating a municipal level of government
removed city dwellers from the domination of state and rural-oriented county
governments and gave them the ability to deal more successfully with purely
urban problems.
-
Progressives called for the use of
new structures of city government to make administration of the cities
less political and more business-like. They spread the word that the commission
and council-manager models produced greater efficiency and taxpayers got
more bang for their buck.
-
Regulation of municipal franchises
supplying services to city dwellers was also demanded by Progressives to
get urbanites more for their money. Rather than allow monopolistic franchises
free reign to do as they wished, if they wanted city business they would
have to accept regulation by city government. Some Progressives also worked
for public ownership and operation of utility systems such as electricity,
natural gas, and water/wastewater. Rather than granting franchises to private
industry, these utilities would be owned by the people and run by city
government on a non-profit basis.
-
Progressives implemented civil service
systems at the local level to replace the spoils system and to make city
bureaucracies more efficient.
-
City dwellers also began giving their
local governments zoning power to regulate land usage. Zoning, it was felt,
would allow more rational and controlled urban growth.
-
Direct Democracy
The Progressives, like the Populists
before them, felt that government had slipped beyond the control of "the
people." Government, in their opinion, was unduly influenced by the wealthy
and by the big city bosses and political machines. They therefore proposed
measures to make democracy more directly responsible to the needs of all
the people.
-
The direct election of United States
senators, accomplished by constitutional amendment in 1913, took selection
away from state legislatures and gave it to the voters of each state. The
hope was that senators would become more responsive to the people if they
were elected by and had to seek reelection from the voters themselves.
-
The selection of party nominees for
government positions also changed during the Progressive Era. Previously,
nominees were chosen by the officials of the political parties - a very
small group of party pros. The Progressives demanded that democracy be
made more direct by allowing the voters of each party to choose their own
nominees in a nominating primary. Thus voters would have more control over
their government officials rather than simply being given a choice between
two people primarily responsible to party elders. During the Progressive
Era all but two states shifted to direct nominating primaries.
-
Initiative, referendum, and recall
measures were also enacted to give the people more control over government.
Initiative is a petition process that allows voters to initiate laws rather
than depend on their legislatures for action. If ten percent of registered
voters sign a petition, an election on the question is forced. If voters
then approve the initiative proposal, it becomes law. Referenda refer a
political decision to the electorate in a specially-called election. The
voters are given the decision. Recall is, in effect, the doomsday weapon
of electoral politics. It is a petition process among voters allowing them
to force an immediate reelection contest on incumbent officials with whom
they have become disenchanted. It is similar to a vote of no confidence
in some other political systems. Even if the official has four or five
years remaining in his or her term of office, if enough voters sign the
recall petition an election can be forced and the official replaced.
-
Government Control
Progressives also proposed an extension
of civil service to cover more workers in the federal bureaucracy and restrictions
on corporate lobbying efforts to make the federal government more efficient
and less manipulable by big business interests and the rich.
-
Government Regulatory Efforts
Like the Populists before them, the
Progressives felt that the federal governmentís regulatory efforts had
to be strengthened and expanded. They pointed out that there were numerous
loopholes in the Interstate Commerce Act (1887) and the Sherman Antitrust
Act (1890) and that such laws had been further weakened by the rulings
of a reactionarily conservative judicial system. They therefore demanded
that loopholes be closed and that new laws strengthening and expanding
governmental regulatory efforts be passed. Big business must be controlled
in the public interest.
The Hepburn Act of 1906 sought to
close loopholes in the Interstate Commerce Act and strengthen the power
of the Interstate Commerce Commission. The regulation of the banking industry
was accomplished under the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Progressives sought
to close the loopholes of the Sherman Antitrust Act through the Clayton
Antitrust Act of 1914. The Federal Trade Commission was created by Congress
in 1914 to regulate business methods and to enforce the new antitrust initiatives.
Furthermore, the federal government under pressure from Progressives became
more aggressive and successful in its prosecution of antitrust cases than
ever before. The Northern Securities Company, Standard Oil, the American
Tobacco Company, the DuPont corporation, and the Beef Trust were all successfully
prosecuted.
The Progressives also launched new
regulatory efforts to adjust America to the modern age. Child labor laws,
employer liability laws, a Pure Food and Drug Act, and a federal meat inspection
law were all legacies of the Progressive Era.
Given the diversity of the Progressive
Movement, there were demands/adjustments which fit into no one general
category. The demand for a nationwide prohibition on the production, sale,
and consumption of alcohol was one such demand. Prohibition was accomplished
at the very end of the Progressive Era with the passage of the eighteenth
amendment in 1919 and the Volstead Act of 1920. Protective tariffs were
lowered, fulfilling a demand of both the Populists and the Progressives,
in 1913 by passage of the Underwood-Simmons Act. Compulsory education financed
by taxation also came about across the country as a way of assimilating
the new immigrants and easing social tensions in modern America. Female
suffrage also became a fact through constitutional amendment.
Just as the constituencies of Progressivism
were diverse and moderate, so too were the adjustments in American life
they worked to achieve. This cross-section of America demanded not the
dismantling of the government and economic system but small but important
refining adjustments to meet the demands of a new America.
Reasons for Progressive Triumph
in Contrast to the Failure of Populists
In contrast to the rather limited
constituency of Populism, the Progressives were far more numerous. The
sheer breadth of Progressivism was one of the most important reasons for
the success of the movement. They were truly a cross-section of America.
While the Populists had been viewed
as extremists and radicals, the Progressives were seen as moderate and
respectable because of who they were. In a sense, the moderate constituencies
of progressivism lent their respectability to many of the Populist demands
and thereby succeeded in enacting them into law.
The Progressives succeeded in part
because the environment for reform had been prepared by the actions of
the Populists in the 1890s. The Progressives were not the first to demand
changes in the laissez faire government policies of the United States.
Finally, the Progressives also succeeded
because they worked within the two party system rather than opting for
a third party challenge. This made the Progressives seem less threatening
and their demands therefore more acceptable.